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We may find it easy to reject, on moral grounds, the promiscuity that has become pervasive in the dominant dating culture. But what about the consumer-related aspects of dating: shopping around for a significant other, assigning worth to other people, and discarding someone when it suits us? Here perhaps we are more tentative, both in our assessment of the culture and in how we choose to conduct ourselves.

Unfortunately, we are more influenced by the prevailing culture than we realize. If everyone around us embraces a certain belief, we are more likely to accept it uncritically. Likewise, if those around us accept a certain kind of behavior as normal, we are inclined to do so as well. Small wonder, then, that the dominant dating culture is taken by most people who grow up with it to be a given—a cultural norm that for better or worse is “just the way things are.” Even some Christians are inclined to believe that Christianity does not apply to this area of life. Rather, it is just assumed that dating is the thing to do and besides: “If I don’t participate, won’t I be ridiculed or left out?”